This evening, the BAM Fishman Space was transformed into a white room. In that room, two women struggle to unearth the difficult truth of an event that occurred long ago. Savannah Bay was written by French feminist writer Marguerite Duras. Her works for theater are rarely performed in America, so this was a special treat (it…
Tag: theater
The Exalted
I am really sorry to say that I spent an excruciatingly long hour last night at BAM’s Fishman Space where I saw The Exalted (based on the German-Jewish art historian, Carl Einstein.) I really wish I had liked it more than I did, because Carl Hancock Rux (who conceived and wrote the piece) has a reputation for…
texts&beheadings/ElizabethR
Sometimes it pays to take a risk. That’s what I did tonight when I headed to BAM’s Fishman Space to attend the production of texts&beheadings/ElizabethR. This was one of those performance ideas that was either going to succeed or fail embarrassingly. I am happy to report it worked quite well. I am fascinated by the…
New Society by Miranda July
Several years ago, my friend from Ohio raved about a performance art piece that Miranda July staged while she was in Columbus. It was called New Society and my friend could not stop gushing about how interesting it was. He said she created a whole world in two hours, and that it involved the audience’s…
Antigone
Tuesday evening at BAM, I attended my first production of Antigone. Because it is by Sophokles and because Juliette Binoche starred as Antigone, I feel pressure to make some profound pronouncement on the whole evening. I will leave that to the scholars in the audience. What I will say is that Ivo van Hove directed…
Taylor Mac: The 20th Century Abridged
I hate arriving at events late, but every once in a while it just can’t be avoided. I arrived at Taylor Mac’s show last night at Celebrate Brooklyn several songs in, and I am sure I missed a delightful beginning. That said, what a performance! It was grand! It was touching! It was hilarious! It…
Broadway Shows, The High Line & Fine Art!
Too much culture, too little time! Sometimes I simply cannot keep up. There is my day job, my community chorus, my art collective, my friends to see, my yoga class, my farm share, my food coop shift, my dishes to wash … you get the picture (and you probably juggle all that and more!) Anyhow,…
A Human Being Died That Night
BAM’s Fishman Space was transformed into a cell in Pretoria Central Prison tonight, and although I willingly bought my ticket to this play, I can’t say I was looking forward to experiencing it. As it turned out, I sat riveted for 80 minutes while I struggled — along with the characters in the play —…
Ghosts
I saw the April 10 staging of this play and I found it to be riveting. Lesley Manville was a huge part of that, as was the compelling story. I sometimes hesitate to see Ibsen plays at BAM because they present them pretty often, and sometimes they seem repetitive. Not so for this one. I…
Kings Theatre Renovation
On a snowy cold afternoon on February 7, my friends and I waited on a line outside of the newly renovated Kings Theatre on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. We were hoping for a peek inside. We were not alone and we were not disappointed. While we were waiting, it was fun to talk to…
The Iceman Cometh
Some things just take the time they take. You can’t rush them. I am thinking of baseball, for instance. Or opera. For an even better example, take Eugene O’Neill’s play, The Iceman Cometh, as performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday, February 6. Co-presented by BAM and Scott Rudin, the Goodman Theater production of this play…
The Source
I attended 21c Liederabend last year at BAM and was intrigued by the arias presented from The Source which was commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects. When I saw the entire opera was being staged at BAM’s Fisher Theater, I knew it was going to be a memorable experience, and I was right. The use of the black box space was…
victoriab:culture 